Inbreeding among polygamists along the Arizona-Utah border is producing a caste of severely retarded and deformed children

Interesting article about another cult where the leaders are controlling all marriages. Some differences between FLDS and UBF: Instead of recruiting new members, they bear children (the growth rate will be probably similar as in UBF). UBF has so far only spiritual inbreeding, not biological. Nevertheless the UBF leaders ordered abortions to solve their problems, something that FLDS refuses to do.

Here are some excerpts from the first link that rang a bell because they describe my symptoms as a member of UBF:

"Dr. Frank Ochberg, who was credited with defining Stockholm Syndrome in the 1970s, said it developed when 'positive feelings form [between] hostage to hostage-taker, reflected back from taker to hostage. And both of them against outsiders. It's automatic. It's unconscious.'

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A Surprise Coping Mechanism

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Experts said she [Natascha] might have been bound emotionally and chose to continue living with him out of irrational affection.

'There is a phenomenon in psychology called identification with the aggressor,' Ablow said.

'When you're powerless, your mind allows you to adopt an affiliation with the person who holds the keys.'

'It's unbearable to think your life could be threatened at any time,' he said. 'So what you tell yourself unconsciously is, "It's not like that. I'm part of the group that's holding me."' ["God has called me to UBF; I must be faithful no matter what."]

And here's an excerpt from the Wikipedia article about Stockholm Syndrome:

Loyalty to a more powerful abuser — in spite of the danger that this loyalty puts the victim in — is common among victims of domestic abuse, battered partners and child abuse (dependent children). In many instances the victims choose to remain loyal to their abuser, and choose not to leave him or her, even when they are offered a safe placement in foster homes or safe houses. This syndrome was described by psychoanalysts of the object relations theory school (see Fairbairn) as the phenomenon of psychological identification with the more powerful abuser.